South Africans can visit these 94 countries without a visa in 2019

Arton Capital, a provider of residency and citizenship solutions, has released its latest Passport Index – a system that ranks travel documents by the number of countries that can be visited without having to apply for a visa.

In a surprising shake-up, the United Arab Emirates has replaced Singapore as having the most valuable passport in the world.

At the start of November, four new countries were added to its visa-free list bringing the total to 167.

Singapore (167) and Germany (166) round up the top three, with the top of the list dominated by European countries.

While South Africa ranks 44th on the overall list, it has shown steady annual improvements – rising to 94 countries in 2018 from 90 countries at the end of 2017.

This number could increase even further in 2019 as the Department of Home Affairs plans to implement a range of visa changes to encourage foreign investment and travel.

South Africa is negotiating visa waiver agreements for ordinary passport holders with a number of countries, as well as simplifying visa requirements for countries such as China and India.

This may result in reciprocal arrangements which could see these countries lower the requirements for South African tourists.

These countries include:

Algeria;

Egypt;

Morocco;

Sao Tome & Principe;

Tunisia;

Saharawi-Arab Democratic Republic;

Ghana;

Saudi Arabia;

United Arab Emirates;

Qatar;

State of Palestine;

Iran;

Lebanon;

Bahrain;

Oman;

Kuwait;

Belarus;

Georgia;

Cuba.

Below BusinessTech looked at the countries South Africans can currently visit without a visa heading into 2019.